Men work on a flume for a U.S. Gold Placers mining operation beside the San Miguel River in Montrose or San Miguel County, Colorado. The workmen pose near a wooden flume that is under construction. Shows piles of lumber.

View of a flume under construction probably near Georgetown in Clear Creek County, Colorado. Shows a wooden structure constructed in a trench with an open top built to supply water to an ore mill. A shovel and a pick are near the flume.

View of a flume under construction probably near Georgetown in Clear Creek County, Colorado. Shows a wooden structure constructed in a trench with an open top. An ore mill and an aerial tramway are in the distance near the entrance to a narrow...

Men sit on a wooden pressure box at the end of a flume used for hydraulic mining by the U.S. Gold Placers Company, near the San Miguel River in Montrose or San Miguel County, Colorado. A building and tents are in the valley in the distance.

Men pose beside a partially constructed wooden flume used in hydraulic mining by the United States Gold Placers company near the San Miguel River in Montrose or San Miguel County, Colorado. Stacks of lumber are near the flume.

View of a U.S. Gold Placers company flume beside the San Miguel River in Montrose or San Miguel County, Colorado. Wooden timbers form a square water trough used to transport water for hydraulic mining. Excess water pours from a hand gate in the...

View of a Wooden pressure box and hand gate on a flume on a hillside near Dallas in Ouray County, Colorado. Wooden timbers form a square water trough used to transport water for hydraulic mining. The hand gate is used to release water from the...

View of the recently completed, concrete lined, Vallejos Ditch after a USDA special improvement project to improve the Vallejos Ditch system for San Pablo (Costilla County), Colorado. An automobile is parked near the irrigation ditch. The snow...

View of the construction of a headgate for the Vallejos Ditch (1854), part of the Ditch No.5, USDA Special Improvement Project for the Vallejos Ditch irrigation system, in San Pablo (Costilla County), Colorado. Two men work near a wooden concrete...

Hispanic American Bill Moreno irrigates his field in San Luis (Costilla County), Colorado. He stands beside an irrigation ditch and uses rubber hoses to siphon water out of the ditch. He wears a cowboy hat, a plaid shirt and holds a shovel. Trees...

Two men open the headgates at a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Vallejos Ditch System, Ditch No.5, a USDA Special Improvement Project in San Pedro (Costilla County), Colorado. Four men look on, George G. Romero is second from the right,...

Hispanic American George G. Romero kneels beside the Vallejos Ditch near an old headgate, prior to the USDA Ditch no. 5 Special Improvement Project for the Vallejos Ditch System, in San Pablo (Costilla County), Colorado. Shows graded earth beside...

View of the construction of a headgate for the Vallejos Ditch (1854), part of the Ditch No.5, USDA Special Improvement Project for the Vallejos Ditch irrigation system, in San Pablo (Costilla County), Colorado. Two men work near a wooden concrete...

View of the concrete lined Vallejos Ditch, after the USDA. Ditch no. 5 Special Improvement Project for the Vallejos Ditch system in San Pablo (Costilla County), Colorado. Shows a headgate in the irrigation ditch. Sagebrush and pinon covered hills...